A priest's faith in church resurrected

A six-month pilgrimage brings the Rev. Frank Latzko from the streets of Lincoln Park to the hills of Assisi, Italy

March 31, 2013|By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter

Chicago priest Frank Latzko prays Tuesday in the church of St. Stephen in Assisi, Italy. Latzko, pastor of St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Church in Lincoln Park, has been on a European pilgrimage since September. (Giulio Napolitano, Chicago Tribune)

ASSISI, Italy — — One day last September, the Rev. Frank Latzko, pastor of St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, decided to take a walk and rediscover why he became a priest.

His feet carried him from the Lincoln Park neighborhood to France, across the Pyrenees mountains, into Spain and eventually to Italy, where he stood in St. Peter's Square to witness the historic debut of Pope Francis — the first pope to take that name.

But Latzko's journey still wasn't complete. Last week, he ambled through Assisi, Italy, the medieval mountain village that eight centuries ago was home to the namesake of both Latzko and the pope. There, Latzko breathlessly climbed the same steep hills and meditated along the same wooded and walled paths where St. Francis once strolled.

This Easter, he will celebrate one last Sunday Mass in Rome before heading home to Chicago with his love for Jesus strengthened, his passion for the priesthood renewed and his faith in the church resurrected. This week, he returns to Chicago to transform his contemplation into action. As Pope Francis calls on all Catholics to remember those on the margins, Latzko and his congregation at St. Teresa intend to answer.

"This moment of this pope is an Easter moment of new life and spirit, breathing fresh air into the church, calling us back to our mission and what the church lives and breathes on the local level," said Latzko, 56. "This is where the church is at its best. This is what we're about."

Easter 1977

This Easter will be nothing like the one 36 years ago. That was the day Latzko, then a disillusioned 20-year-old department store clerk, told his parents he wanted to become Jewish. They suggested he have a word with the family priest at St. Emily's in Mount Prospect.

Thousands of words later, he realized that he simply lacked a strong foundation in Catholicism. "I realized I had not a clue," he said. "I didn't know what the Lamb of God meant."

He immersed himself in prayer, attended daily Mass, shared regular conversations with clergy and experienced a different kind of conversion.

"Falling in love with Christ. That's really what did it," he said. "That's what Catholics ultimately are searching for. They want to know Jesus, and too often we're giving them the church institution."

The same Jewish colleagues at Marshall Field's in Skokie who introduced him to Judaism recognized his deepened faith and recommended he become a priest.

"Ironically, it was people from outside my community that brought me in," Latzko recalled. "Isn't that Jesus? Jesus who went to the outside of his religion to really focus on his gospel."

After graduating from DePaul University, he enrolled at Mundelein Seminary and became ordained in 1984.

"I learned about my priesthood through discernment and struggle," he said. "I asked lots of questions. It was through questioning, searching and praying that it became clear to me in my heart to gather people who don't belong. And there are so many, unfortunately."

Shortly after his ordination, Latzko began to suffer internal bleeding from ulcerative colitis and underwent several surgeries. Doctors removed his large intestine. Self-conscious about his physical infirmity, he told no one. Instead, he channeled his suffering into his ministry.

After serving at four parishes and teaching at Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary, he landed at St. Teresa of Avila in 2008.

St. Teresa of Starbucks

Lincoln Park offers a variety of Catholic parishes, each with its own appeal. People travel miles to hear the St. Clement choir. St. Vincent de Paul caters to the college crowd. The St. Josaphat bell towers have become a centerpiece of the Lincoln Park skyline.

Rebuilt after a fire in 1959 on a commercial strip of Armitage Avenue now known for its boutiques and restaurants, "St. Teresa of Starbucks," as Latzko kids, offers intimacy. With only 900 registered families — 300 active — St. Teresa is tiny in comparison to other neighborhood parishes. The congregation runs a food pantry and weekly soup kitchen. It also supports a parish in Palmary, Haiti.

"We're supposed to be about doing the Lord's work," said Jack Halpin, 69, of Arlington Heights, who followed a pastor to St. Teresa from the suburbs 20 years ago and never left. "We're not about rules. We're not about pomp and circumstance. That parish is doing the Lord's work. That's kind of how it's been since I've gotten there."

Many of the ministries started or grew under Latzko's leadership. Longtime parishioners say he also continues a long line of great homilists. After five years at St. Teresa of Avila, he had earned the time off to take a pilgrimage, they say. He also gave them a clear agenda to pursue in his absence.